Bay City will take a homecoming win over Wharton last Friday and a 2-1 record into its game against 3-0 Vidor there Friday.
Trailing Wharton 9-7 at half, the Blackcats put up 14 unanswered points in the second half for a convincing 21-9 win over the Tigers.
Freshman running back Jada Andrews put the Blackcats on the scoreboard first with his breakaway burst for a 39-yard touchdown run with 8:46 left in the first quarter.
Junior Victor Morales booted the PAT for a 7-0 start.
Andrews finished with 92 yards rushing on the night.
The Tigers struck back with a scoring pass play between quarterback Angell Gaona to wide receiver Jarrad Newsome and a PAT from Garrison Burns.
Wharton later added a Bay City safety to gain a 9-7 lead with 4:10 in the first quarter.
Junior running back Ayden Smith gashed the Wharton defense for a game-high 132 rushing yards and two touchdown runs – a third Smith TD was called back on a blocking in the back penalty.
Smith had a 22-yard run around end with 7:43 in the third quarter.
With Morales’ PAT, the Blackcats regained the lead with a 14-9 score.
Smith’s topped that run with a 66-yard touchdown run down the right side, with 3:58 left in the fourth quarter.
Morales’ PAT made the final score 21-9.
Bay City was outgained 318-242 in total yards – with most of Wharton’s yardage coming from Newsome’s 267 pass reception yards - but the Blackcats shut out the Tigers in the second half.
“The defense played great besides giving up a couple of big plays, Head Coach Robert Jones said.
“One guy in particular was (junior linebacker) Karius Luster. He had three interceptions and a fumble recovery, so he had a great game,” Jones pointed out.
Luster and senior safety Colton Rozner each had four unassisted tackles.
The game’s challenging quarterbacking chores were handled by senior Jamorrious Abbott and junior Joel Davalos.
“Coming into the season me and my coaching staff know we would struggle early in that position,” Jones said.
“But we will figure it out with the two kids we have playing that position and weekly we trying to figure out what both guys do best and make sure we are rolling offensively when we start district.
“The more reps they get, they will improve.
“It’s tough trying to fill in for Avery Smith (Bay City’s 2020 quarterback), but I have faith those guys will get the job done,” he said.
The Blackcats will face a Vidor Pirate team Friday that defeated Brazosport there for a 39-29 win.
“Vidor is going to line up and run the ball it’s a hard offense to prepare for in one week so we will put together a great game plan and watch film extra this week so the kids will be prepared and ready to go Friday night,” Jones added.
“It feels great to be 2-1 with such a young team, but I know we can play so much better and I hope we start showing that this week in all three phases of the game.”
